Saturday, November 13, 2010

Sept. Bakken Boom: ND Sets Another Oil Record

North Dakota pumped another record amount of oil in the month of September, producing more than 10 million barrels in a single month for the second month in a row and beating the previous record set in August by almost 50,000 barrels (see chart above, data here). Compared to September of last year, oil production has increased by 43.4%, and oil production in North Dakota has doubled in a little more than two years - from slightly fewer than 5 million barrels in June of 2008 to more than 10 million barrels in both August and September this year. North Dakota's rich oil fields now produce 6% of America's domestic crude oil production, up from less than 2% in 2006 (data here).

Partly because of its ongoing oil boom in the Bakken area, North Dakota continues to lead the nation with the lowest unemployment rate at 3.7% in September, almost 6 full percentage points below the nation's average 9.6% rate. The oil boom has fueled an employment boom for oil workers in North Dakota (data here) - the number of oil-related jobs has grown from fewer than 4,000 at the beginning of 2005 to almost 9,000 in September of this year.

Through September of this year, North Dakota has already produced more oil (81 million barrels) than all of last year (79.7 million barrels), and is on a pace to produce about 112 million barrels in 2010, which would be almost twice as much as 2008 (62.8 million barrels) and almost three times as much as 2007 (45.1 million barrels). In recent years, North Dakota has surpassed oil production in Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and Wyoming, and North Dakota, and has gone from the 9th highest producing oil state to the #4 rank now, behind only Texas, California and Alaska.

For someone with no experience in oil industry work, starting salaries today are ranging from $50,000 to $60,000. When you consider this pay level is for working only 6 months out of the year, the appeal of oil field or offshore work becomes very understandable.

Entry-level positions start at $800 to $1,000 per week. Stewards and Galleyhands (the guys who clean the living quarters, dining hall, wash dishes, stock inventory and do general kitchen help) earn $700-800 per week. General labor, or Roustabouts make from $900 to $1100 per week. Some of the other jobs available for entry level personel include deckhands, oilers, welder helpers, cleaner painters and more.

2010

Entry level oil field jobs salaries range from $50,000 to $80,000 per year. For more technical and professional jobs, the range increases from $70,000 up to $220,000 per year. While much of the work is physically hard, the pay is good. And while you are working on a rig or in the field, you can expect to receive the highest quality food and accommodation - included as part of your salary. In particular, the accommodation wings of many oil rigs are comparable to quality hotels.

North Dakota pumped another record amount of oil in the month of September, producing more than 10 million barrels in a single month for the second month in a row...

Great for ND workers but nothing meaningful for the global oil supply picture. You seem to get excited about production of 330K barrels per day when that is rounding error in the daily usage number for the US. And what is so great about $10 million wells that produce an average of 80 barrels per day after a year of production?